chapter 3

She wants me to pay tuition for her son and also compensate her?

I didn't answer.

Sadie shook my arm. "I heard Mercedes released a new model. Buy it for me, okay? I had to take out a loan against my car just to pay the tuition.

"You were supposed to handle this.

"Did you hear me?" she pressed.

"I heard you," I replied, taking a sip of a hot drink.

But I didn't agree.

Because in the past, I always did whatever she asked. I gave her the house when I said I would, and she never doubted me. She left happy as ever.

Two days later, she actually handed over 400 grand. I paid the tuition in front of her.

After she left, my friend transferred 100 grand back to me as commission.

Just when I thought that was done, Sadie had more demands. She called me to come to a club and book a private room for her.

I checked the date. Of course, it was her birthday.

Every year on her birthday, I footed the bill for her party. Her avaricious girlfriends never held back. They'd eat and drink like kings, spending several tens of thousands of dollars every year.

I tried to tell her to keep her distance from them. She always got impatient. "It's just a few tens of thousands of dollars. Your company earns that in an hour. Why care so much?"

She always said I got stingier the richer I got. Well, it wasn't her money, so of course she wasn't stingy.

When I got to the private room, I could hear her and a few girls talking inside.

"Why invite your pregnant friend? She can't drink, total buzzkill."

"If we don't invite her, who's paying?"

"Didn't she say her company went bankrupt? What if she can't pay?"

"Her pocket change is my life savings. Even if she's bankrupt, tens of thousands is nothing to someone like her."

"Besides, she was probably too busy to get me a gift. She'll make it up to me later."

I smiled and pushed the door open. Sadie came straight up to me.

"Vivian, where's my gift?" she demanded.

"Didn't get you one," I said casually.

Someone near her winked. She complained, "Are we even friends? You forgot my birthday."

I sat down, smirked, and waved over the waiter. I ordered over ten bottles of top-shelf wine in one go.

The girls crowded around, their eyes wide.

One bottle alone cost nearly ten thousand dollars.

"Drink up," I said, copying her earlier tone.

Anyway, I wasn't paying. Order however they like.

The room erupted in cheers. The boldest ones started ordering even more. I glanced at the list. This party would cost at least a few hundred thousand dollars.

Sadie looked smug.

While she was busy entertaining her friends, I calmly left the club with my bag.

Back home, I turned off my phone and went straight to sleep.

Let whoever wanted to be the sucker pay the bill. I sure as hell wasn't going to.

The next day, Sadie called me like a madwoman. I ignored every call.

Then Leon Woods came by with some nutritional supplements.

Leon was the CEO of a rival company and the real father of my child.

That birthday, I had gotten drunk and accidentally slept with him.

Allan knew about it, but because he and Sadie had schemed against me first, he didn't dare expose the truth.

In fact, Allan just wanted me pregnant to force a marriage, so he was willing to be a cuckold.

Leon looked at me, hesitated, then finally spoke.

"Is your company facing some kind of trouble lately?" he asked.

In my past life, when my son was being abused, Leon tried to take the kid away.

But even though he was the biological father of my son, the child was legally a Warren. And he was the CEO of my rival company.

Allan even believed that the reason I never let him kiss me, even after dating for so long, was that I was still hung up on Leon.

Allan even doubted whether the child was not his.

Allan wasn't my child's biological father, but he didn't just stop Leon from taking the kid. He also let Sadie and Riley Warren torment my son more and more.

In the end, my three-year-old son froze to death in the snow.

It was Leon who spent a fortune to finally retrieve my son's body.

As I thought about it, tears suddenly fell from my eyes.

Leon froze, awkwardly grabbed a tissue from the table, and handed it to me.

I took it without a word and wiped my tears.

"Alright, I won't ask anymore. If you can't handle it, just come to me," he said, sounding helpless.

"Thank you," I whispered, sniffling.

"You… you and Allan, when are you getting married?" Leon asked.